Columbia's Matt McPhearson was selected by the Arizona Diamondbacks with the No. 120 overall pick in baseball's amateur draft Friday. The Riverdale Baptist senior plans to sign with the organization.

“[I’m] happy, excited, thankful,” McPhearson said when reached by phone after the selection. “It’ll open up the door for me. I’m going to be an Arizona Diamondback. I’m going to work and show them why I deserve to be at the top.”

“The scout director [Ray Montgomery] and the general manager [Kevin Towers] are both speed guys, they like speed a whole lot,” McPhearson said of the Diamondbacks. “Wherever you go, speed’s going to play a big factor, and I know for a fact that my speed with play a big factor at any level.”

But what concerned many scouts was McPhearson’s hitting. He isn’t a power hitter and struggled a big with plate discipline, but Riverdale Baptist head coach Terry Terrill worked with him on his patience at the plate to lower strikeouts and become a more consistent leadoff hitter. McPhearson believes that’s the biggest facet of his game he will work on in the minors, as well.

“[I’ll] become more of a gapper person, hit the gaps a little bit this year, become more consistent with that,” he said.

McPhearson had committed to play college ball at Miami (Fla.), but he is planning to head out to Arizona next week to start working with the Diamondbacks staff.

He was the first of three players from the state to be selected Friday.

Reed, a 5-foot-11, 165-pound pitcher from Gaithersburg went 6-4 with a 2.33 ERA this season. A graduate of St. John's College High School in Washington, D.C., he was drafted by the New York Yankees in the 21st round last year but decided to return to the Terps.

Reed is the ninth Terp to be drafted over the past three years and program’s highest selection since the Toronto Blue Jays took lefty Brett Cecil with the No. 38 overall pick in 2007.

“I'm pretty ecstatic right now,” Reed said in a news release. “When my name was called, I screamed. It is really awesome to be picked in the sixth round by the Cardinals. The Cardinals are an amazing organization with a proven track record of developing pitchers. It's honestly the best situation for me.”

Just had a chance to talk briefly on the phone with Hunter Harvey, the Orioles top pick in the 2013 draft (22nd overall). He’s a 6-foot-3, 175 pounder out of Bandys High School in Catawba, North Carolina. He has a low 90s fastball that can scoot up to 97.

With the 2013 first-year player draft beginning tonight in Secaucus, N.J., it’s worth taking a peek back at where some of the Orioles’ notable picks from last season ended up — from the majors to the minors and some who opted to attend college.

With the baseball's first-year player draft starting tonight in Secaucus, N.J., The Baltimore Sun spoke with analyst Jonathan Mayo, who will be part of MLB Network's coverage. Mayo offers his take on the Orioles' strategy and some players to keep an eye on.

Projecting baseball’s annual amateur draft is often tougher than the other major sports. And it’s certainly a more daunting task to predict whom the Orioles will select with their top pick now that they’re in the unfamiliarly late territory of No. 22.